1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for culturing microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas containing aspartate beta-decarboxylase and to a process of producing L-alanine using said microorganisms.
Aspartate beta-decarboxylase is a useful enzyme for enzymatic production of L-alanine. L-Alanine, as is well known in the art, is an important amino acid as a starting material for pharmaceuticals, foods, or as a chemical industry raw materials. The demand therefore has been rapidly increasing in recent years.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although it has been proposed to culture microorganisms containing aspartate beta-decarboxylase with lactic acid and pyruvic acid added to the medium (Japanese Patent Publication No. 19997/1985) or with L-glutamic acid added to the medium (Japanese Patent Publication No. 27355/1978), the organic and amino acids are costly.
As an industrial process for producing L-alanine, there has been proposed a process for producing L-alanine through enzymatic decarboxylation of L-aspartic acid (Japanese Patent Publication No. 27792/1978). However, the enzyme content in the microoganisms used in that process is low.